The present invention relates to printing of electronic documents and more particularly to method and apparatus for augmenting the hard copy form of electronic documents with features to enhance the experience of reading or using the hard copy of an electronic document.
Increasingly, readers of documents are being called upon to assimilate vast quantities of information in a short period of time. To meet the demands placed upon them, readers find they must read documents xe2x80x9chorizontally,xe2x80x9d rather than xe2x80x9cvertically,xe2x80x9d i.e., they must scan, skim, and browse sections of interest in multiple documents rather than read and analyze a single document from beginning to end.
Documents are becoming more widely available in electronic form. Some documents are available electronically by virtue of their having been created using word processing software. Other electronic documents are accessible via the Internet. Yet others may become available in electronic form by virtue of being scanned in, copied, or faxed. Commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/754,721, entitled AUTOMATIC AND TRANSPARENT DOCUMENT ARCHIVING, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, details a system for generating electronic as well as hard copy format of documents.
However, the mere availability of documents in electronic form does not assist the reader in confronting the challenges of assimilating information quickly. Indeed, many time-challenged readers still prefer paper documents because of their portability and the ease of flipping through pages. Paper documents are easily taken along with the mobile reader, can be readily annotated with ordinary pen or pencil and can easily be passed along to another.
Certain tools take advantage of electronic documents to assist harried readers. Tools exist to search for documents both on the Internet and locally. Once a document is identified and retrieved, automatic summarization techniques, such as the Reader""s Helper(trademark), described in a commonly owned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/995,616, entitled AUTOMATIC ADAPTIVE DOCUMENT HELP SYSTEM, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, helps the reader to find as well as assimilate the information he or she wants more quickly.
While efforts to create personal agents for reading online documents such as described above represent significant contributions to the field in their own right, many readers will continue to prefer paper format documents irrespective of advances made in the online document technology. However, there is heretofore no annotation assistant available to the reader who desires to work with printed hard copy of electronic documents.
What is needed is a document management system that helps the reader locate the information he or she wants more quickly in a printed copy of the document. The paper format document management system should be easily personalized, flexible and adaptive as well.
A reader""s annotation assistant application for documents in paper form is provided by virtue of the present invention. In certain embodiments, an elongated thumbnail image of all or part of an electronically stored document is imprinted on each page of the printed form of the document. Sections of the document of interest to the reader are emphasized in the elongated thumbnail image. The emphasized area in the elongated thumbnail image assists the user with the selection of sections or pages of the document having particular interest to the user. The operation of the assistant is personalized for a particular user by setting of a sensitivity level and selection of relevant topics of interest. Some embodiments of the assistant are also capable of improved performance over time by both automatic and manual feedback. The assistant is usable with many popular electronic document formats.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a method for creating a paper format annotation for an electronically stored document includes a step of accepting user input indicating one or more user-specified concepts of interest. A step of analyzing the electronically stored document to identify locations of discussion of the user-specified concepts of interest is also included in the method. The method also includes a step of printing the electronic document, with each page being imprinted with its own unique elongated thumbnail image of the document indicating an approximate position of the page within the document, as well as locations of discussion of the user""s concepts of interest in relation to that particular page.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a method for creating a paper format annotation for an electronically stored document includes a step of accepting user input indicating one or more user-specified concepts of interest. A step of analyzing the electronically stored document to identify locations of discussion of the user-specified concepts of interest using a probabilistic inference method, such as a Bayesian belief network or its equivalent to identify such locations, is also included in the method. The method can also include a step of displaying the elongated thumbnail image of a portion of the electronically stored document in a viewing area of a display. The method also includes a step of printing the electronic document, with each page being imprinted with its own unique elongated thumbnail image of the document, indicating an approximate position of the page within the document, as well as the locations of discussion of the user""s concepts of interest in relation to that particular page.
In select embodiments, a step of printing a cover page having indications of the user-specified concepts of interest can also be part of the method.
Numerous benefits are achieved by way of the present invention over conventional techniques. In some embodiments, the present invention is more user friendly than conventional techniques. The present invention can provide a way for the user to work more efficiently with hard copy format of a large document which contain concepts of interest. Some embodiments according to the invention are easier to use than known techniques for working with documents in electronic format. These and other benefits are described throughout the present specification and more particularly below.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the inventions herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings.